Days of our Lives
by Kyuni15
Summary: The daily lives of Vongola's Elite. The suffering and hardships they've endured, the heartaches they've experienced, the things they had to sacrifice, and the joys of friendship and loyalty. 8YL
1. Chapter 1

**A/n: Hi! This is my first Reborn story ever! Please go easy on me! Although I'm a huge fan of Yaoi, this fic will have STRAIGHT pairings only.**

**Setting will mostly be 8YL and beyond, but will also contain flashback episodes.**

**Characters are a bit OOC but then again, it has been 8 years! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Amano-sensei does and I'm just borrowing her characters.**

**I'm also just borrowing the title of a famous TV Show. So don't sue me!**

**Cheers!**

**Chapter 1: A day in the life of a Mafia boss slash University Student**

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><p>He wakes up to the sound of an alarm clock. His. Normally he's used to the sound, but today he found it more annoying than usual. Cursing in Italian, he forced himself to get out of bed, turned off the annoying gadget and stood up. He glances at the alarm clock, it read 7 am. Yawning, he made his way across his spacious room towards the bathroom. Shrugging out of his clothes, he took a quick shower, washed his face, and brushed his teeth, as was his daily routine, except today was just not a regular day. After he was done in the bathroom, he then made his way to his closet. A walk-in closet. He got inside and was greeted by racks and racks of expensive clothing and shoes. He went over to his suits and he pulled out a striped dark brown suit and hurriedly changed into it, and wore matching leather shoes with it. He checked himself in the mirror, he looked decent enough, except, of course, for his hair. It was unruly, as per usual. Sighing, he attempted to straighten it out, but to no avail. Just as he gave up fixing his hair, he heard sharp knocks on his door. He walked to the door and opened it. He was greeted by a tall, lanky, Italian man, he wore a standard black suit, like most members of the mafia do. Luigi, his bodyguard of almost four years now, a man in his thirties who served under the previous boss, a very dependable man, not as strong as his guardians, but capable enough to protect him during emergency situations.<p>

"It's almost time, boss." he said.

He nodded. He got out of his room and followed after Luigi as they made their way through the hallways of the Italian base. As he walked through the hallways, he was greeted by everyone, and occasionally he would stop for awhile and talk to some of them. Reborn told him that every member is important, no matter what role they had in the family, and as the boss, It's his duty to look after the well being of his men. It took them ten minutes to get to the meeting room. The meeting today was to be held in the farthest meeting room of the base. One they rarely use. The usual meeting room was still under renovation, the fourth time this year. Luigi opened the double doors as Tsuna entered. He was a bit early for the meeting, only three of his guardians were here. His right-hand man was having a heated discussion with his Sun Guardian, while the calm Rain Guardian tried to smooth things out. Upon noticing Tsuna's arrival, Hayato stopped arguing with the older guardian almost immediately.

"Tenth! Good morning! Are you okay?" he asked, a worried expression on his face. Takeshi and Ryohei moved closer to Tsuna and saw what Hayato meant.

"Tsuna you look so pale!" said Takeshi.

"Extremely pale!" Ryohei added.

He looked at himself at the mirror earlier, he didn't think he looked that bad, he looked like what he normally did, sleep deprived, sometimes they just worry too much. It was his fault in the first place why they became such worrywarts. He had, on several occasions, overworked himself to the point of being hospitalized when he first took over as the boss. So he can't really blame them for being like this.

"I'm fine guys, really. I just didn't get that much sleep." Tsuna told them with an appreciative smile, sounding cheerful so as to appease them.

"Again? I told you to go to bed early yesterday."said Hayato, frowning.

"I had some school stuff I had to take care off. Don't worry, won't be long now till graduation."

Tsuna and the rest of his guardians, with the exception of Ryohei, all went on to University even after moving to Italy after high school. Hibari graduated last year, While Tsuna, Hayato and Takeshi were graduating in a couple of months, and Chrome would graduate next year. It was Reborn's idea, He said they were only young once, so why not experience University life? University is fun, that they had to admit, but being a member of the most powerful mafia family in Italy while attending classes is no easy task. Especially the boss.

"Tsuna, maybe you should sit this one out and get some rest." Takeshi suggested.

"It's fine, Takeshi. This is an important meeting, and the Varia will be pissed if I ditched them." said Tsuna. His well deserved rest would have to wait... he needs to deal with the crisis at hand first.

"We should start early then, Where are the others anyway? It's almost time." said Gokudera. He called the attention of one of the guards stationed outside the meeting room. The guard mumbled something to Gokudera as he excused himself from the room. "Their car just arrived. They're being escorted here." he said.

Tsuna nodded. He then took a seat at the head of the table, flipping open the file in front of him. The others doing the same. "We're still waiting for Chrome and Hibari-san." said Takeshi. At that Tsuna swallowed nervously. Hibari was still pissed at him about the previous mission he'd been on. which was why he was absent for the past two meetings. Tsuna hopes he'd be mature enough to forget about it and attend the meeting today. It was his responsibility as a guardian. As if on cue, the doors opened, The elusive Cloud Guardian stormed across the meeting room., towards his assigned seat, but not before giving Tsuna a death glare as he passed by him. Evidently, He was still pissed. Hibari was shortly followed by the timid Mist guardian Chrome Dokuro, who nodded in greeting to Tsuna and the other Guardians. He didn't think Hibari would attend today's meeting. It was a good thing Chrome managed to convince Hibari, Tsuna needed all his guardians for today's discussion.

"Thank you for joining us, Kyoya-san." said Tsuna, the latter completely ignoring him as he closed his arms in annoyance. Chrome nudged him but ignored it as well. Chrome sighed.

The only female guardian turned to the boss. "Sorry we're late bossu."

"It's okay Chrome, we were just about to start. We're wai-"

The doors opened again, almost breaking by the force. The silver haired Varia Squad Captain, accompanied by the former prince Belphegor casually strode in as if they owned the place.

"Yo! Sensei!" called Yamamoto, waving at his former master.

"Voi! I told you not to call me that!" said Squalo. A bored looking Belphegor walked past him, and straight to a vacant seat next to the Sun Guardian.

"Taichou, take your seat so we can start with this friggin' meeting already!" said Belphegor.

Squalo, took a seat, next to Yamamoto. He grabbed one of the files on the table and held it in front of him. "So I take it you've read my report?" Squalo turned to Tsuna.

"Yes. Hayato, bring it up on the screen." said Tsuna. Gokudera, with a laptop in front of him, he pushed a button on the keyboard as a hologram display sprang to life in the middle of the table. All eyes turned to the display.

"This is a footage that our recon team managed to recover from the scene." Gokudera played the video. The resolution was not good, it was blurry and the sound was barely audible, but it was clear enough to distinguish figures. A Varia squad was to infiltrate a Rival family's second base and recover a kidnapped Vongola spy and a CEDEF agent. However, the Varia team was ambushed just before they reached the base, in an abandoned warehouse in Northern Italy, by the members of that family, wielding powerful animal box weapons, the ten man Varia squad was defeated in seconds, but when the recon team got to the scene, their bodies could not be found. The video showed footage of that incident.

"So what do you plan on doing?" asked Squalo, as soon as the video stopped playing. He wore an impatient look on his face, which was no surprise since this matter was concerning his men.

"I had the video analyzed, there's something off with the video. Hayato, show them. " said Tsuna. Gokudera played the video from the middle, showing the scene where the Varia squad was in combat with the rival family. It showed a Varia member, engaged in battle, his enemy brought out a snake box weapon, A huge snake, that had glowing indigo flames surrounding it's body.

"Notice that snake box weapon, note the time on the video is 10:43 pm." the video continued playing, it showed various battle scenes between the two groups, it was a hard fought battle, but in the end all of the Varia members were defeated. The video zoomed in one defeated Varia member covered in blood, the screen focused on the watch he wore. Gokudera enhanced the quality of the zoomed scene, the time on the watch read 10:43 pm. "That snake was released around that time, but the video ran for 10 more minutes before they were defeated." said Tsuna.

"So what does that mean?" asked the Sun Guardian, a confused look on his face.

"Ten minutes have passed but the time on this watch remained the same."

"So? It could have just broken or something." said Belphegor.

Gokudera then played the video in slow motion, the focus still on the watch. "Pay attention on the dial on his watch, it's still moving." he said, and sure enough it did.

"This is extremely confusing!"

"Chrome?" Tsuna called.

"It's that snake, it conjured an illusion the moment it appeared." explained Chrome.

"Exactly, and a very powerful illusion at that, able to manipulate the video and the people watching the video, but it could not manipulate the actual passage of time, so the time on his watch remained the same."

"Wait wait, are you saying that my men could be alive?" asked Squalo.

"There is a possibility. I was going to send Chrome, since we're dealing with an Illusionist here but. . . " Tsuna glanced at Hibari and was met with another death glare. "Err, Chrome just got back from a mission a few weeks ago so I sent someone else."he said.

"Did you send Mukuro?"inquired Takeshi. Tsuna shrugged.

"No, I sent someone else. In fact, she's already there..."

"Who did you send bossu?" inquired Chrome.

"Someone who has an affinity with the mist, but hates it with a passion." Tsuna smiled, which Squalo noticed as he slammed his fists on the table in realization.

"You sent Mika?" he screamed.

Mikaela, Vongola's tactical forecaster and Tsuna's liaison officer. A very powerful Cloud user, who also has an affinity for the mist. A reliable asset to the Vongola since she was hired by Tsuna 4 years ago. Just in a short span of time, she managed to gain the trust of every guardian, as she proved her worth to the family by successfully completing mission after mission. She came in second in Fuuta's Ranking of the most powerful women in Vongola.

"If Mika-san is already there then I'm not worried." said Yamamoto.

"Me too." Chrome added.

"Mika can extremely handle this!" said Ryohei.

"Is she on her own?" Squalo demanded, his usually loud voice grew a tad louder. Belphegor then started giggling like a little girl.

"Ushishi, why Captain? Do you wanna go all the way to - to help her?" Bel winked.

Yamamoto smirked. "Of course he does! This is Mika-san we're talking about! He still lov-"

"Shut it!" Squalo told Yamamoto. The swordsman shut his mouth, but couldn't help laughing at his former master's annoyance. After all, it was a rare sight to see the Varia squad Captain looking all flustered. Everyone else, with the exception of Hibari and Tsuna started snickering too.

Tsuna then cleared his throat. That got everyone to quiet down. "Mika is not on her own, she took a squad with her. They left just this morning." Tsuna interrupted, Squalo opened his mouth to protest but Tsuna interrupted him again. "And for the record, I didn't want her to go, she volunteered herself, and you know how stubborn she is." Tsuna sighed. She was so efficient in missions, but sometimes she could be so stubborn and reckless and that worried him...

"If she's already there, then there isn't much for us to do, is there?" said Squalo, as he rose from his seat.

"Sit back down, Squalo." ordered Vongola's second -in-command, Gokudera.

"There's something else I want to talk to you about." said Tsuna, his voice more authoritative as before. Squalo glared at the young Vongola boss, as he angrily sat back down. It was his job, as the Varia's representative, to be present in every meeting, in place of the Varia boss Xanxus, who, even after acknowledging Tsuna as the new boss, still refused to attend such meetings, and if he did, with Hibari in the same room, it would mean war. And God knows they've had enough renovations already.

"So what's next on the agenda, o fearless leader?" mocked Squalo. Squalo and Tsuna, have not been on good terms for sometime now, and it is out of duty to the family that they can bear being in the same room.

"The Millefiore family has requested the Varia's assistance, You are to meet with Byakuran tonight, he'll tell you the details of the mission once you get to their base." said Tsuna.

"Bastard." Squalo told him. Tsuna grinned mischievously. He knew for a fact that the Varia didn't like Byakuran one bit.

"Watch it, Squalo!" threatened Gokudera, as he always did whenever someone is being disrespectful to the boss.

"Goodluck on your mission then, Squad Captain Squalo." said Tsuna,as he smiled at the man just to annoy him further.

Squalo stood up, and kicked the table's leg, causing it to break in the middle. The Hologram disappeared as soon as the table broke. The Varia Rain Guardian angrily stormed out of the meeting room, knocking down a few of Tsuna's men outside in the process. Belphegor gave a mock salute to the Vongola boss as he trailed after Squalo.

When the two main members of the Varia left, Gokudera turned to Tsuna. "Tenth, this is the seventh time that he's broken a table, must you always annoy him?" Gokudera sighed. Yamamoto, Chrome and Ryohei started snickering.

The Cloud Guardian, who remained silent throughout the meeting, cleared his throat. They turned their attention to the former Disciplinary committee leader, and sweat-dropped. "Oi Herbivore," he turned to Tsuna. Tsuna swallowed nervously, When Squalo broke the table, Hibari. Who was seated in the middle, got hit at his leg, his pants tearing in the process. "Do you know how heavy this table is?" he said, his face remained expressionless, yet his hands rreached for his Tonfas.

"Eh. . . Hehe. S-sorry?"

And that was the conclusion of the meeting. They won't be having any meetings for awhile, the last meeting room of the Main Headquarters had to be renovated as well.

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><p>After the disastrous meeting, Tsuna prepared himself for University, He changed into a pair of jeans, a blue round necked shirt, a gray hooded jacket and sneakers. Clothes he normally wore for school, just to remind himself that he was still a normal guy in his early twenties. After making sure he had everything he needed in his bag, he slung it over his shoulder as he exited his room. Luigi who was waiting outside held out his hand for his bag.<p>

Tsuna sighed. "I can carry my bag myself Luigi."

"I never said you couldn't. But you know I'm required to carry my boss' bag, especially inside the mansion." said Luigi. Tsuna sighed again as he handed Luigi his bag. This was one thing he didn't like about being a mafia boss, your men fuss about you all the time. It was only in school where he can be himself. It was an agreement he had with his father, Vongola's external adviser, known as the second most powerful man in the family. In exchange for agreeing to have bodyguards, (he was super opposed to the idea when he first took over as the boss) he would at least be allowed to have no bodyguards with him in school. Except of course in the parking lot, when he would be dropped off and picked up. He was led by Luigi towards the mansion's main entrance, where a luxurious black sedan was waiting for him. Tsuna stepped inside, Luigi closing the door behind him, the latter then taking the seat next to the driver. When the car started moving, he reached for his pocket, taking out his mobile phone and unlocked it. He had three missed calls, all from the time he was in a meeting. The first one was from his mother, who calls him at least three times a week to check up on him, the second one was from Mikaela, probably calling to inform him about the mission, the third one was from a classmate, Maria. Wondering what his classmate could've wanted from him, he dialed her number. After two rings, she picked up.

"Hi Maria, you called?"

"Tsuna, you finally called me! I've been waiting for ages, where are you?" she asked. Maria was his thesis partner. He had forgotten that they made plans to meet up in school early to discuss their thesis.

"Sorry! I forgot! I'll be there soon, meet me at the entrance." he apologized, usually he would right down important meetings like this, but then again, he had a lot on his mind.

A few minutes later he arrived at the University. Sapienza University of Rome, one of Europe's top university, is where Tsuna, Gokudera, Yamamoto, and Chrome all go to. Majority of Vongola's elite members all studied here, since the Vongola famiglia is one of its sponsors. How Tsuna managed to get into this university, (without using his influence as the boss) remained a mystery to him even to this day. He had to thank his hyper intuition for helping him pass the entrance exam. Gokudera got in easily, Yamamoto had to retake the exams twice, and Chrome managed to get in, but with difficulty. This was also where Hibari graduated last year. They all took different courses, Hibari was a history major, to their surprise, Chrome took up liberal arts, Yamamoto took up a major in sports education (which was no surprise), Gokudera took up a Business course, just so he could be in the same class as Tsuna., who took up a major in business. Why business? It was Reborn's idea, he said something about running the mafia being closely similar to running a business. Tsuna had a lot of struggles in his studies, his stint as a mafia boss always got in the way, but because he worked double time, and with the combined help of his friends, he managed to make it to his final year.

Tsuna stepped out of the car, waved at Luigi and the driver as the car sped off. A petite black haired girl, of African-American decent, wearing a rather short light blue dress, came up to him. Maria Dawson, an American immigrant who was also a business major.

"Tsuna!" Maria called. Tsuna smiled at her in greeting. "Why are you late?" she asked, she didn't sound mad at all, which was what Tsuna expected of her anyway.

"Sorry. I got caught up in a few things." He said. Maria raised an eyebrow suspiciously. They've been classmates for some time now but Tsuna's still as secretive as before, she knew nothing about him being in the Mafia, and a boss at that. He would always come up with lame excuses whenever he was late for school, and when Maria would question him, he'd just brush it off without coming across as mean. Maria sighed.

"Sure sure. Let's get started then, you have a class in an hour right?" Maria dragged Tsuna towards the library. Their thesis was due in a few months but they haven't made much progress. She was worried, but Tsuna assured her they'd make it in time. And the confidence in his voice made her feel confident as well. They took out reference books, and began browsing through them. Maria would, from time to time, sneak a peak at him. Tsuna was concentrated at a book, his brown eyes focused on the page he was reading, occasionally he would stop to look at his phone, type a quick message, then he would get back to reading. Maria sighed. Of all the guys she could've fallen for it had to be Tsuna, who just saw her as a friend. Who didn't even notice she got a new haircut, or that her dress was at least three inches shorter than what was allowed by school policy, or that she was showing a small amount of cleavage. He didn't look interested at all. She never actually confessed her feelings, just showed it sometimes, like she would get extra clingy, would send him texts in the middle of the night just to ask what he was doing, Would wear sexy clothes in front of him. Tsuna had been nice, he would reply to her texts, complimented her clothes. But his replies were nothing short of friendly. And it's either he's really clueless, or he's just not interested.

Tsuna was texting again, this time with an amused look on his face. It did enter her mind that he might have a girlfriend she doesn't know about, but she had asked around with his friends, Gokudera and Yamamoto and Chrome, and they all told her to ask him instead. She decided to ask him one of these days. And maybe she'll tell him how she feels too, in the process.

"Why are you smiling?"Maria asked him. Tsuna looked up from his phone and stopped texting.

"Oh. Uh. N-nothing!I just remembered something funny." he lied. As he put his phone back to his pocket and started reading the book in front of him again.

"Uh-huh. Hey tsuna?" she called. He looked up from the book he was reading.

"Yeah?"

"I'm wearing a new dress. Like it?" she asked, with someone as clueless as Tsuna, she had to be extra flirty and charming.

Tsuna smiled at her and went back to reading. "Yeah it looks nice on you." He said.

"Do you think its a little too short?" she asked as she stood up, hiked the hem up a bit, exposing more of her already exposed legs.

Tsuna did not even sneak a glance at her legs, he just looked straight at the book he was reading."Nah, I guess its okay." There it is again, his friendly answers. She's heard it lots of times.

"God Tsuna are you really a guy? Most men would be drooling right now!" said Maria, raising her voice a bit in frustration. Maria had her share of boyfriends, and this was the first time she failed in seducing a guy.

"Hey its Hayato!" he said pointing behind her, Maria looked behind and saw Tsuna's silver haired best friend walking towards their table.

"Tsuna, Class starts in Ten minutes." he said once he got near their table. He glanced at Maria, looking from head to toe, and smiled to himself. Maria stood up, packed her things and slung her bag over her shoulder.

"See you, Tsuna" she angrily walked away, bumping into Gokudera, her heels clinking with every step. The librarian was outraged.

"You do know she was putting the moves on you, right?" said Gokudera when Maria was out of earshot. The two started walking towards their College Building for class.

"Yeah." Tsuna answered. "Should I have shown more interest?"

"And get her hopes up? I don't think so. Why don't you just tell her you have a girlfriend?"Of course, the idea did come to him. But...

"I'll tell her, once the thesis is done. I don't want things to be awkward between us." She liked Maria, though probably not in the way she liked him.

"It's already awkward as it is. Why'd you even agree to be her thesis partner in the first place? You know she likes you, She's only going to get hurt eventually." said Gokudera. What his best friend said was true. He did know about her feelings, for some time now, if truth be told, but when she asked to be his thesis partner, he couldn't come up with an excuse to say no, so he just went along with it. He was, in a way, a bit lame. Tsuna thought about what Gokudera said. Sure it was not his intention to hurt her, but he should have just rejected her in the first place, ignoring her advances like what he would do was just as brutal to a girl in love.

"When the thesis is done, I promise to reject her. She's a nice girl, she deserves that at least. " he said. Gokudera nodded.

"What does your girlfriend say about Maria being your thesis partner?" Knowing, her she'd probably be okay with it, thought Gokudera.

"She says its fine, She says I don't have a lot of female friends around me aside from Chrome so she doesn't mind." Tsuna said.

"She's that confident, huh?"

"Who's confident?" Yamamoto, wearing a baseball uniform, came up to them from behind. He was all sweaty and covered in dirt, his baseball practice must've just finished.

"Tsuna's girlfriend." said Gokudera.

"Well she has the right to be, I mean, She's Hot!" said Yamamoto.

Tsuna giggled like a schoolgirl. "Yeah she is, and she knows it alright!" Gokudera and Yamamoto laughed at their bestfriend. He had this giggly look on his face whenever he spoke about her.

"I saw Maria running out of the library. Is it just me or are her dresses getting shorter and shorter?"

"That's because it is, which reminds me, you owe me 100 Euros!" Gokudera told Yamamoto.

"I do? You mean she went for it in the library?" He asked, a stupefied expression on his face.

"What are you guys talking about?" Tsuna asked.

"Me and Hayato were betting on school locations on where Maria would put the moves on you. Damn, I didn't think she'd do it in the library!" Yamamoto reached for his pocket and pulled out a 100 Euro Bill. Gokudera snickered as he pocketed the bill.

"You're betting on me again?" Tsuna asked. Though adults now, his friends were as childish as ever.

"Well it's not our fault that you've become such a stud!" said Yamamoto. Maria was just one of a number of girls who fell for him, since he came to the University.

"Yeah, We're so proud of you, Tenth!" Gokudera added, patting Tsuna's head like a kid.

"Quit it!" he said, embarrassed. The two continuously teased Tsuna all the way to their classroom. When they got there,Yamamoto excused himself from his best friends as he took off for his class too.

"Shoot, I forgot we had Guiseppe's class today. I forgot my books! And I double checked my bag before I left the mansion too." Tsuna sighed.

"That's just like you, Tenth. I'll let you borrow mine." said Hayato.

"Thanks. In exchange I'll give you a day off!" He teased. Gokudera grinned.

"You know I don't need one." he said. "You just wanna go away with your girlfriend! I'm not falling for that again!" he added remembering what happened a few months ago. Tsuna had disappeared for a week without a word, only to find out he took a Train to France with his girlfriend. Tsuna got a scolding of a lifetime from his Guardians.

"Of course I do! C'mon! I'll let you go to Japan to visit Haru-chan!"said Tsuna as he pulled out the Haru card.

Gokudera thought about it for a moment, but brushed the thought away. "Tempting, but I'm still not falling for that!"

"Oh Come on Hayato, Please?" he begged.

"No! And don't you have that important meeting with the Allied Families?"

"Oh yeah..." He sighed. "That's a meeting with the Varia again, right?" Gokudera nodded. "I just can't catch a break!"

Although it required him patience of the highest form to deal with Xanxus, Squalo, and the other members of the Varia, required him to skip on school, meals, and even sleep, although he had a growing number of fan girls that were starting to become annoying, and although Hibari-san still had that urge to bite anyone to death when he was annoyed, he liked being a Vongola boss. If it wasn't for the Vongola, he never would have met Reborn and his Guardians who he considered siblings, never would have met loyal members of the family like Luigi, he never would have met his current girlfriend, and he never ever would have had the power to protect them, and at the same time have the time of his life here in Italy, with the people who mean so much to him.

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><p><strong>An: Thoughts? Violent reactions? Let me know!**


	2. Chapter 2: The cost of taking lives

**A/n: Thanks for the reviews! I didn't get a lot but they were all good anyway, so yay! Here's the second chapter, I hope I still get reviews for this one!**

**This chapter features the Vongola's Rain Guardian Takeshi Yamamoto.**

**Warnings: Changed the rating to T due to language, blood, gore, and mentions of sex.**

**Italics = flashback scenes.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: Takeshi Yamamoto: The cost of taking lives<strong>

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><p>"Good practice today team! Get lots of rest for tomorrow's game. Dismissed!" He said to his baseball team. His team mates excused themselves from him, as they scattered off into different directions. He grabbed his bat from the ground, and headed for the showers, he was covered in sweat and dirt, as was usual during baseball practice. Though a full fledged member of the Mafia, Takeshi Yamamoto could not completely let go of baseball, so when he got accepted to the university, he soon joined the baseball team, participating in inter university tournaments here and there. He was made captain of the team in his third year, and since then has lead the team to victory countless times. Truth be told, baseball was the only good thing going on in his life, but more on that later.<p>

Most of his team mates had already gone home, he was the only one who opted to take a shower in the locker rooms... though it wasn't like he was going straight home, he made plans with his fellow guardians, they were going to eat out today, something they did once in awhile to hang out and not talk about Mafia related stuff.

After taking a quick shower, he put on casual clothes, jeans, a t-shirt, and a leather jacket. He grabbed his bag and his bat,slung them on his shoulder and left the showers. It was around 6 in the afternoon. The people in the University were starting to dissipate, most of the student population had probably gone home, or were in parties drinking the night away. He met a few people along the way, greeting some classmates he knew as he passed through the University's open field, on his way to the parking lot. Similar to his high school and middle school days, he was still as popular as ever in school, being the baseball captain and having a tall stature and good looks propelled him to that status, it took him quite some time before he got to his destination. And being the polite young man he was, he greeted each and every one.

When he got to the parking lot, he saw a woman leaning on his blue sports car's hood. He let out a sigh. And he thought Tsuna had girl problems, he was in the same position, and even more so. He walked towards his car. The woman noticed him as he got closer.

"Hey Takeshi." she greeted him as she stood straight. The woman in front of him wore a short tight skirt, a red tank top, and high-heeled boots. How this woman could wear something this skimpy in the middle of November, was a mystery to him.

He smiled politely at the woman as he passed her. He pushed a button on his car keys and the doors were unlocked. He put his duffel bag inside the passenger seat, and shut the car's door again. "Lucia" he greeted. A smile crept across the girls lips as she moved closer to him, putting a hand on his chest.

"Wanna do something fun tonight?" she asked, moving closer to him, pressing her body to his.

"Sorry, I have plans..." he quickly answered. He was very much looking forward to spending time with the other guardians.

Lucia was also a member of the Mafia, coming from a small Mafia family, she knows about Takeshi being a mafia member, but not the fact that he's one of the guardians of Italy's most powerful Mafia family. He and Lucia met in the University and have fooled around lots of times before, which is something he now regrets since he noticed the girl has been too clingy lately and seems to be developing feelings or something.

"You always say that lately." she said, pouting at him seductively.

"I really do have plans Lucia, I'm Sorry." he gently took her hands off him, nodded politely, as he got into his car, The girl had an annoyed look on her face as she once again failed on her attempt to seduce the handsome Japanese man. Takeshi rolled down the windows as to not come off rude. "See you, Lucia." he told her.

"Call me if you change your mind!" she called after him as his car sped off. Lucia was a beautiful woman, a little slutty for his tastes but she had some good in her. Takeshi just isn't looking for anything serious. He didn't think he deserved to be in a happy relationship anyway.

The drive to the Vongola mansion was uneventful, rush hour had just ended and it only took him 15 minutes to get to the base. He parked his car in his usual spot, greeting the lower ranked members of the Vongola on his way to the lobby. A familiar brown haired, suit-clad Japanese man and a beautiful long dark haired Japanese woman, clad in a short black dress, were sitting at the lobby, talking and laughing about something he couldn't quite hear. When he was near enough, the pair noticed him.

"Takeshi!" called the Vongola's young 10th Boss Tsuna. Chrome Dokuro smiled at the Rain Guardian as he came near them.

"Hey... What were you talking about?" he asked, he sat next to Chrome, and inched away a little bit just in case Hibari arrived.

"Bossu and I were talking about Ryohei-san's failed attempt at proposing again." said Chrome. At this Takeshi laughed. It was just last week that the loud Sun Guardian tried proposing to his long time girlfriend Hana Kurokawa, which ended in Hana being covered in wine from head to toe, How that happened was anyone's guess.

"Sempai did? What happened this time?"

Tsuna and Chrome looked at each other, then started laughing again. "H-he... he..." Chrome tried to say, but she couldn't talk straight, apparently, it was that funny.

Tsuna continued instead. "They were having dinner yesterday, Ryohei-san gave the ring to the waiter to put into the cake they were gonna have for dessert,"

"Let me guess, Hana-chan accidentally swallowed the ring?" That sounded like something straight out of a romcom movie that would likely happen to the Sun Guardian.

"No, the waiter stole the ring and left the restaurant!" Tsuna laughed, Chrome continued laughing too. After all, a mafia member getting robbed was very uncommon and laughable. They were mobsters, for crying out loud.

Yamamoto chuckled. "Did they catch the waiter?"

"Ryohei-san got his men to search for the waiter, and they managed to corner him, but then the waiter said he had lost the ring during the chase. But one of his men noticed that the Guy's breathing was off, turns out he had swallowed the ring and it was stuck in his throat!" Tsuna started laughing again, and this time Chrome finished the story for him, although she herself was still laughing.

"Ryohei's men tried to get the waiter to choke it out, but during the struggle, the waiter managed to swallow it. So now they have the waiter captive, and they're waiting for it to come out of, well you know." said Chrome. Tsuna laughed louder this time, Takeshi joined him.

"If Hana-chan found out where the ring's been in, I don't think she'd say yes." Yamamoto said. " Where is Ryohei-san anyway?" asked Takeshi. Chrome and Tsuna's laughter died down, as they looked around the lobby for signs of the Sun Guardian. A Vongola Bodyguard came up to Tsuna and bowed to him.

"Tenth, the cars are ready." He said. Tsuna thanked him and the bodyguard excused himself and headed out the door, towards the mansion's main entrance where their cars were waiting for them. Just as the three of them stood from their seats, a white-haired young man rushed past them, and into the Main Entrance looking all over the area for signs of his fellow guardians. He stopped just in front of the car.

"Ryohei-san! You rushed past us!" Yamamoto called. He, Chrome and Tsuna all walked towards the Sun Guardian.

"Sorry! I thought I was already running extremely late!" said Ryohei as he went back in to meet them. He wore his usual suit, save for the jacket. His orange shirt's top two buttons were opened and he was sweating a bit, his hair was slightly disheveled too.

"We wouldn't leave without you." said Chrome. At seeing Ryohei, Tsuna started snickering, remembering Chrome's story earlier. Yamamoto started doing the same and when he met Tsuna's gaze, the two burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" the boxer asked. Takeshi and Tsuna both shook their heads and tried to control their laughter. Chrome was giggling again too. Ryohei looked at the two then at Chrome and his eyes widened.

"Hibari told you!" he accused Chrome.

"N-no Tetsu-san told me. Tetsu-san was there when you were rambling to Kyoya..." said Chrome.

"That Tetsu! Stop laughing already! I have news!" He declared with a serious look on his face. Tsuna and Takeshi stopped laughing and turned their attention to the older man.

"What is it, Ryohei-san?" asked Chrome.

"I'm Extremely Engaged!" He screamed. The three's eyes widened in surprise.

"What? How did...?" Takeshi started to say.

"Hana noticed that I was acting extremely nervous and sweaty that night, and she confronted me about it, and you know I find it extremely hard to keep things from her so I spilled! So she extremely said yes!" he said, all excited and with a huge grin on his face.

"That's Great! Congratulations!" said Chrome, as she gave the Older Guardian a hug. "Where's Hana-chan?"

"I... errr... left her in my office. When she said yes, I ran here to tell you the news." He said, scratching the back of his head.

Tsuna and Takeshi laughed at their Sempai. "That's just like you. Congratulations, Sempai!' said Takeshi, as he extended his hand to Ryohei and he shook it. He was happy for Ryohei, but couldn't help but feel slightly jealous of him.

"Yeah, Congratulations!" said Tsuna, shaking hands with his Sun Guardian and patting him on the shoulder.

"Thanks! I'm extremely glad she said yes! I should probably buy a new ring though. She knows about the waiter." at that they started laughing again.

A luxurious black sedan stopped right at the entrance. A suit-clad man stepped out of the car's front seat, and moved to open the back seat. A handsome blonde-haired man in his late twenties, wearing khaki pants, a shirt, and a green coat stepped out of the car. He smiled once he saw the Guardians and waved at them, stumbling a little as he stepped out of his car.

"Dino-san!" called Tsuna.

Regaining his footing, the Cavallone Boss waved at the Vongola Boss and his Guardians. "Yo Tsuna! You guys going somewhere?" he asked. Glancing at their cars at the entrance's driveway.

"We were just about to get dinner. Wanna join us?" Tsuna asked.

He nodded his head enthusiastically."Sure I'm up for it! I was just gonna drop by and say hi, but now I get free dinner! Your treat right? Can I bring Bianchi too?" He asked Tsuna, as he put an arm around the Vongola Boss who was like a little brother to him.

"Of Course." said Tsuna. Yamamoto cursed mentally. He didn't have any problems with the Cavallone boss, he's a good guy. But spending time with him and his wife was a completely different thing.

"Thanks. It's been awhile since she got out of the house, what with our daughter being sick..." said Dino, as he pulled out his phone and dialed his wife's number. The phone call to his wife took only a few seconds. He put his phone back to his jacket pocket afterwards.

"She says she'll meet us there." he said.

Chrome glanced at the Rain Guardian standing beside her, and sighed to herself. He looked conflicted. He gave the rain guardian's arm a small friendly squeeze.

"It's just you guys? What about Kyoya or Hayato, and Mika? " the blonde boss asked. Usually whenever they went on dinners like this, the three mentioned by Dino were also in attendance.

"Kyoya said he had to finish up a report on that last mission he went to..." Chrome told them. The exchange between her and the rain guardian went unnoticed by the others.

"Hayato went to a meeting in my place, so he'll just meet up with us at the restaurant." said Tsuna.

"And Mika?"

"You don't know where your own sister is? You do live in the same house don't you?" Tsuna said. Dino smirked at him.

"I don't know, you tell me." He said, winking at the Vongola Boss.

The young boss sighed. "She's back home resting."

The Bucking Horse grinned wider. "Resting? Did she do something strenuous the night before?" said Dino. Chrome blushed at the blonde's insinuations. Ryohei and Takeshi exchanged amused looks.

Tsuna cleared his throat. "ANYWAY, Shouldn't we be going? I'm hungry!" he said, as he opened the back seat of the parked tangerine SUV at the entrance. "Ryohei, we're bringing your car! " Before he could ride at the back, he stopped in his tracks and pulled out his ringing phone. He glanced at the number and tapped the green button on the touch screen phone and held it to his ear. He turned away from his guardians as he spoke to the person on the other line in Italian. He spoke in quick hushed tones that the other guardians and Dino were not able to understand most of the conversation. After a few minutes, with Dino and the guardians just waiting on Tsuna, the latter turned towards them, a concerned look on his face.

"What's wrong Bossu?" Chrome asked.

"Well... Remember that mission Bianchi-san went to, the man from the Lantoine Family who escaped. He's back and he's on a killing spree. Five of our men are dead." He paused, a sad look on his face as he continued. "He needs to be... subdued." He finished with a sigh. The man from the rival french Mafia family was a mass murderer, he stole from, raped, tortured, and murdered not only members of the Vongola family, but of the Allied families as well. He was a menace to both the underground and the society. Of course, to those close to Tsuna, they knew what he meant by "subdue". It was his way of saying that someone needs to be disposed of. It means that there's no other choice but to kill this person. It hurt Tsuna every time they had to kill someone, but nonetheless the young leader knows that it is necessary to protect his family and his allies.

"I need one of you to go tonight." Tsuna said as he looked at his three guardians. Sending one of his guardians to a mission like this meant that they didn't have room for error. The man must be killed, or else the family would continue to be in danger. Though he has the utmost trust in his guardians to complete an assassination like this, after all, all of them were not first timers when it came to killing someone, Tsuna included, they have all taken lives, but it was only his two guardians who could sleep at night and was not as broken as the others afterwards. One of them, is obviously Hibari, while the other was the calm, ever smiling, and cheerful rain guardian.

Over the years, Takeshi Yamamoto became famous in the mafia community, as one of Vongola's most ruthless assassin, almost on par with Kyoya Hibari. Tsuna depended on him usually when it came to missions like this. He was pretty much used to taking lives, As a master swordsman he is an efficient Hitman and killing came second nature to him, it's as easy as breathing to him.

To save Tsuna and the other guardians the trouble, he spoke up. "I'll go" he said, turning to his boss and smiling. "It's fine." he assured the boss.

Tsuna nodded appreciatively. "Thank you, Takeshi..."

To lighten the atmosphere a bit, the Cavallone boss spoke up. "Aww man, I rarely get to hang out with Takeshi."

The swordsman awkwardly smiled at the Cavallone boss. "Next time then, Dino-san." He lied.

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><p>He woke up the next day in a bed that was not his own. He cursed inwardly. How many times has he woken up like this? Far too many times to count. He glanced at the naked woman sleeping next to him and sighed. He felt bad for Lucia, she was developing feelings for him and yet he just used her. He hates this side of him. And every time he does this, it breaks him.<p>

He slowly and quietly slid out of the woman's bed. He picked up his clothes from the floor and hurriedly got dressed, careful not to wake her. He sneakily crept out of her apartment, into the hallways, then the lobby, then out on the street where his car was parked. He turned the ignition and sped off, remembering the events of last night that led him to this place.

_(Flashback)_

_After Tsuna gave him the details on the target, he prepared to leave. The target was a man named Franz Lantoine of the now defunct Lantoine Family, a mafia family native to France. The Lantoine family was one of France's most powerful mafia family. The Lantoine family targeted Vongola when Tsuna took in a small french family as an ally. The move enraged the Lantoine family since they have had their eyes set on taking over that family, who was famous for having talented cloud users. It turned to an all out war. The Lantoine family started targeting Vongola's bases. They killed members and ransacked the place. This enraged Tsuna, and he proposed an ultimatum to the Lantoine, stop their attacks or else they will destroy the family. But that didn't faze the Lantoine as they continued to attack the Vongola and its allies, left with no choice, Tsuna ordered the elimination of the Lantoine family, who became such a menace that they were not just attacking Vongola, they attacked other European families to gain more power to defeat the Vongola._

_It was a month ago that Tsuna had sent the main members of the Varia, Xanxus included, plus two of Vongola's elite assassins, poison scorpion Bianchi Cavallone, and Foundation leader Kyoya Hibari, to infiltrate the Lantoine's main base in Marseille, France, to put an end to their tyranny._

_The Vongola were successful, a number of Lantoine's members surrendered, while the others who didn't surrendered was made to forcefully do so by Xanxus and Hibari. They were wiped out, but the Lantoine's leader, Franz fled. Bianchi caught up to the leader and managed to corner him, but the leader who was a sky user, also happened to be an illusionist and had managed to fool Bianchi by faking his own death. It was only when Vongola's other mist guardian Mukuro got to the scene that they realized the man had escaped and was still alive._

_Reports from the Cedef indicates that Franz Lantoine was last spotted in Rome, at an abandoned factory just an hour away from the Vongola's main mansion waiting for a chance to infiltrate. Tsuna wouldn't give him that chance, and Yamamoto would make sure of that._

_He drove his own car for the mission. Making his way through dark streets, and into a mountainous region, where the said factory was at. When he was almost at the factory, he lit his rain necklace with dying will flames, and summoned Kojirou. He rolled down the windows of his car, sent Kojirou out as it emitted rain flames along its path. Trees that he could see far in the distance had disappeared and now the factory was clearly visible. The rain brought about by Kojirou had purified the illusions set up by Franz, a technique he learned over the years. He parked just outside the entrance. He stepped out of his car, and put on the shades given to every member of the family. These shades were made by the same technology as Tsuna's contact lenses. With the combined effort of Gianini and Vongola's chief engineer Spanner, they managed to come up with these shades that would help them detect heat signals within 50 feet of the user. It was quite useful for missions like this, but of course, even the shades can be fooled by illusions, which was why he had sent Kojirou out. He found what he was looking for, as the display on the shades indicated a heat source not far from where he was standing. He took out Shigure Kintoki from its sheath, as he dashed towards the target._

_The factory was old and moldy, every contraption could easily break by a mere touch, Yamamoto moved with haste but was careful not to make any noise, something he was very accustomed to doing. Most of his targets couldn't even see him coming. He stopped in front of a small rusting metal door, by the size of the room it would seem like this was the factory's office. He kicked the door and it broke with ease, he couldn't quite see the target yet what with all the dust settling, but he assumed that the target could see him now, being a mist user._

_His assumptions came true, as he quickly backed away from the now broken door, as a bullet went pass him, missing him by mere inches. Once the dust cleared out, he saw the target. The man wore a suit, but it was in tatters. His hair was very disheveled and his face was covered in dirt and bruises, he held two normal looking pistols in his hand. With the amount of dying will flames he had used on his illusions, plus the fact that he's been on the run for days, meant that he no longer seemed capable of producing flames. He looked very pitiful, for a man that was once known as France's most fearful mob boss._

_"Vongola?" the man spoke in a thick french accent._

_"Vongola the tenth's Rain Guardian, Takeshi Yamamoto." Yamamoto spoke in English, remembering that the man didn't speak a word of Italian._

_"A Guardian? Came to finish that scorpion bitch's mission?" He smirked._

_"Yeah. Alhough, you are lucky that you managed to escape from her, She's much more brutal than I am, you know." said Takeshi. The man laughed._

_"I almost had her, that woman. She really believed I was dead. I was going to sneak up on her, If that Illusionist hadn't shown up, I would have managed to kill her. Although, killing her would be a waste." said Franz._

_"So you have morals now? You didn't seem to have any when you mercilessly killed our members." said Yamamoto in a calm mocking voice. His hand firm on Shigure Kintoki, holding himself back._

_"Morals? Me? Of course not" He snickered. "I simply meant that I would have enjoyed her first before I killed her. " The man said in a sadistic tone. That irked Takeshi a bit as he gripped his sword's handle tighter. The man continued. "A woman in the mafia, I'm sure she's quite the slut, she would even enjoy being fucked by an enemy. I would have shown her a very good time and she would've begged for..." the man's sentence was cut short, as blood splattered everywhere. He hadn't seen Takeshi move, but saw his arm on the ground, no longer attached to his body. He growled in pain as he sank to the floor._

_Yamamoto flicked his sword as blood dripped from the blade. "Don't you dare speak about her like that." He said, his eyes and tone were now devoid of emotion. The man backed away from him, dragging himself._

_"P-please don't kill me!" he plead. Yamamoto was unaffected by it. Years of being a Vongola Hitman taught him to never give in to mercy, he almost lost his father because of that._

_The man in front of him could no longer move in fear. He was cowering on the ground, shaking. The man could tell that death was upon him, and in the face of death, he was nothing more but a coward, and to think such a coward took the lives of good Vongola members, it was infuriating._

_Wasting no time, Yamamoto raised his katana , And swung it with force. The man's head rolled on the floor, stopping next to his arm, even more blood spilling out._

_The man he killed was ruthless, vile, and a menace. He killed members of the family, destroyed their bases and he spoke badly of Bianchi. This man deserved to die, or so he would like to think, and he was so used to taking lives. But that didn't mean he didn't feel something. He showed everyone he's okay, made sure to act normal in front of them after finishing a mission. But when he kills someone, no matter how vicious the man is, afterwards he'd always make his way to a bar, get drunk, and sleep with a random woman and every time he did so, he felt farther and farther away from her, from Bianchi. Maybe that's his karma. The cost of taking lives is his chance of happiness with the only woman he's ever loved and will ever love. So at the end of the day, aside from his friends, Baseball is the only good thing in his life._

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><p><strong>AN: Next Chapter: Hayato Gokudera: The woes of a right-hand man**


	3. Chapter 3: Woes of a righthand man

a/n: Thanks for the reviews! Appreciate it! This one took sooo long! It ended up being too long so I had to cut some parts, but in the end it's still a long one! Oh well...

Warning: Gokudera is a bit OOC here, but like I said before, its 8 years later!

This also focuses on Goku/Haru, so this one goes out to 5986 shippers!

Italics mean either it's someone talking on the phone or through chat or its a flashback.

Please read and (hopefully) enjoy!

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><p><strong>Chapter 3: Woes of a right-hand man.<strong>

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><p>It had been a long morning for Hayato... He woke up past six to attend a meeting at seven, in Tsuna's place. The latter was only getting 2-3 hours of sleep. It had been a very busy month for his best friend boss. He had exams and projects coming up, his graduation thesis was due soon, trouble was brewing between two allied families, and Xanxus was being a pain as usual. These were just half of what Tsuna had to deal with. As a right hand man, he had a lot on his hands as well, but he would help Tsuna whenever he can. His own thesis was done a few weeks ago, so in Tsuna's place he went on Mafia meetings. Even after years of seeing Tsuna on said meetings, he still found it amazing how Tsuna could calmly sit down and deal with troublesome members without resorting to threats and intimidation, (which he normally did)

The meeting ended just after 11 in the morning. It took him quite some time to finally come to agreeable arrangements with the new allied family from France. He stretched out in the backseat of his car and loosened his tie. It wasn't even lunch yet and he felt so tired already. But at least Tsuna could have a few more hours rest, his best friend badly needed it.

He ordered his driver to drive back to the mansion to check up on Tsuna. The next meeting wasn't until evening so he would use this chance to rest as well. When they got to the mansion, he got out of the car , ordered his driver to take it easy for awhile, and headed straight for Tsuna's office which he figured he would be, chances are, instead of resting, Tsuna was probably working again. On the way to Tsuna's office, He was met with greetings from the maids and guards and he greeted them back with a nod.

Tsuna's office was on the top floor of the six-storey mansion, took him 10 minutes to get there, the place was just massive. He met Tsuna's bodyguard Luigi leaving the boss' office. The tall Italian mustached man turned to him and bowed.

"Luigi." he greeted. " Tsuna's in there isn't he?

Luigi nodded with a sigh. "I tried to tell him to get more rest but he insisted to get back to work." Luigi opened the door for him, as the Storm Guardian went inside.

Tsuna's office looked different from when this was the Ninth's office. For one thing, the place was now a mess. The books on the shelves were not arranged in order, and some of them were on the floor, Tsuna's coats were placed on the back of some chairs instead of the coat rack. Documents adorned his huge desk together with three empty cups of coffee. It was almost impossible to see him. His school books were all opened and were scattered on his desk , adjacent to the documents and next to his laptop, where the young boss' eyes were glued to. He had both legs crossed on his seat, he wore a plain shirt and jeans and didn't have shoes on, looking at him, you wouldn't think he was a big shot mafia boss.

Tsuna looked up briefly from the screen and shrieked in surprise when he saw Hayato standing in front of his desk.

"Gah! Hayato don't scare me like that!" Tsuna was more jumpy than usual, which probably meant he had more coffee than what could be seen on his desk.

"Not my fault you didn't see me." He said. He eyed the computer screen, Tsuna seemed to be working on Mafia related business. He sighed.

"How did the meeting with the Dubois family go?" Tsuna asked, as he resumed to typing again.

"They finally agreed to your terms, though they still argued a bit before giving in." he told him. The Dubois family was a small French Family , famous for having talented Cloud Users. The Dubois family had been a target of the Lantoine, and if the Lantoine had gotten their hands on them, it would mean trouble so Tsuna took the struggling family in as part of the Vongola family , and also as a favor for his former bodyguard. Though a small family, the Dubois family has their pride, and even though the alliance took effect a few months ago, it took a while to come to an agreement regarding the french family's role in the alliance.

"Finally!" He exclaimed in excitement, as he stopped working to face his right hand man. "Did you bring Anna with you like I told you to?"

"Yes, she did most of the convincing." said Gokudera. Anna is a talented cloud user and she was a member of the Dubois family some years ago. Mika Cavallone, who had known Anna since childhood, had recommended her to Tsuna, and she became his body guard 4 years ago. She served as one of Tsuna's bodyguards until six months ago, when he recommended her to the Varia. Currently, Anna is serving as the Cloud Guardian of the Varia, a post that had been vacant for far too long.

"I told you she would pull through! I should have borrowed her from Xanxus sooner!"

"Yeah... " Before Gokudera could say anything Tsuna continued.

"How about the meeting with the Simon Family?"

He had almost forgotten about that. "Right, I forgot to tell you. I talked to Adelheid on the phone earlier, she and Julie contracted Chicken pox, so they had to postpone their trip to Italy. Enma suggested to just have a video conference instead in the meantime."

"Chicken Pox huh? Too Bad. When's the video con?"

"This evening."

"Let me know what time, I miss Enma and the others." said Tsuna as he resumed working.

He frowned at Tsuna. "How about no? I attended that meeting in your place so you could get some rest, which you obviously didn't" He said, noting that the bags under his eyes were deeper than before..

"It's fine, I'm almost done here anyway." Tsuna said, typing away. His phrase 'almost done' usually meant another 2-3 hours.

"Tsuna..." he pleaded.

Tsuna looked up at him again and smiled. "Okay fine, After this I'll get some rest so please get off my back."

"... And no working on your thesis either." He added.

Tsuna pouted. "Yes Mom."

He sighed as he left Tsuna's office to take some of his own advice and rest. He needed it too, what with the stressful meeting he just had, and another stressful meeting that was due later.

On his way to his room, while descending the main stairs, he met with a beautiful, tall woman with long curly blonde hair, she wore a standard Vongola female uniform, minus the heels... she held her shoes in one hand and was walking around barefoot, stomping angrily while ascending the stairs.

"Not today, Smokie!" she said as soon as she saw him.

"Wearing heels?" He asked, confused. The woman stopped to glare at him.

"Your stupid boss told me to!" Mika spat. She had an aversion to wearing heels, hated it with such a passion and cursed them on a daily basis.

"Of course he did." The annoyed look on Mika's face meant Tsuna was in trouble.

"Is he in his office?" she asked.

Part of him didn't want Tsuna in trouble, but he might as well tell her. "Yeah. Can you tell him to get some rest first? He just won't listen to me."

"What makes you think he'll listen to me? You know how he is with work." said Mika.

"Try, woman and can't you be more quiet when going up the stairs? This isn't your place." he told her off.

She stuck her tongue at him, as she ascended the stairs again, louder than before. He and Mika argued a lot. Sure , they considered each other friends but they always had disagreements, usually about Tsuna. But he knows that Mika means well and she cares for Tsuna deeply and that's probably why he sees her as a friend.

He continued on towards his room. When he got there, he took off his coat, and loosened the top buttons of his shirt. He went to his night stand and grabbed a pack of cigarettes he left there earlier.

Smoking still was a part of his life, he consumed huge amounts of it, a pack a day was his standard. Smoking kept him calm and composed, and somehow eases his mind. Smoking, in a way helps him get through the everyday stuff. He was no longer the boy he used to be. Brash, loud, foul mouthed, got into fights easily and didn't care about anyone else except Tsuna. He had calmed down over the years, and became a highly respected Right-hand man and he claims that smoking is what guided him to where he is now. That's just him though, the rest of the family insists that he tone down the smoking.

He sat down on his bed and he took a stick from the pack and lit it. He took one long swig and exhaled deeply. He was starting to feel relaxed. He took a few more swigs, and soon finished his first stick of the day, an accomplishment for him because usually at this time of the day, he'd already have a pack. He was about to take another stick, when his phone started to ring. Shrugging, he stood up from bed, walked towards the coat rack and pulled out his phone from his coat's pocket. He looked at the caller id on the screen and pushed the green button.

"What's up sis?"

_"Hayato, you busy?"_His sister asked.

"I'm always busy. Why?"

_"Can we meet for lunch? I wanna talk to you about something._" said Bianchi.

"What about? I have a meeting later and..."

_"I'll bring Sophia along." _Bianchi quickly said. Bianchi knew of her younger Brother's weakness for her daughter.

His eyes lit up in excitement. "Fine. Meet you at the restaurant in 10 minutes."He said. His sister laughed before she ended the call.

He put back the stick he almost lit and prepared to leave again. There was something about the way Bianchi spoke. Whatever it was she wanted to talk about, it must be something serious, she used her own daughter to coax him after all.

The Italian restaurant 'Squisito' is one of Rome's finest. The place usually catered to men and women from the Mafia. The Vongola frequented this place and were pampered regulars. Hayato arrived at the restaurant on time. He was ushered by the waiter further inside the place where his sister was waiting for him.

Bianchi waved at him with her right hand, the left was holding an impatient little girl struggling to get out of her mother's grip. The little girl stopped fidgeting as she saw Hayato come closer.

"Uncle Hayato!"the little girl squealed. Bianchi gently put her daughter down, and the latter ran towards her uncle, hugging his legs. Gokudera knelt down and picked her up and smiled at the 4 year old.

"Hey, missed me?" He asked her, the little girl nodded and hugged him tighter. Hayato didn't have patience for little kids, but this kid, he adored. Her niece, Sophia Cavallone looked a lot like his older sister. Her hair was the shame shade, her features also resembled Bianchi's but her eyes were clearly from the Bucking Horse. Hayato had grown close to his niece, would sometimes babysit her and spoil her all the time with gifts and candies. Sophia is smart for her age, though only three years old, she could already speak straight, could read in write in both English and Italian, and could already summon storm type dying will flames, which is probably why he adored her.

Hayato took a seat across his sister, Sophia still in his arms. "Sophie, sit here. Uncle Hayato isn't going anywhere." Bianchi told her daughter. Her daughter obliged, as she sat next to her Uncle. Bianchi called for a waiter, as she ordered food for the three of them.

After the waiter left Hayato spoke up. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Right to it huh? Such a busy man, my little brother." Bianchi teased.

"Nee-san... It's about Dad isn't it?" he asked. This discussion regarding their Father was something he had been anticipating ever since rumors of his father's family struggling financially again reached his ears.

Bianchi nodded, a sad look on her face, she took out a portable video game and handed it to her daughter who willingly took it and started mashing the buttons right away. "Father's been meeting with his allies recently, meeting with the heirs, 'female' heiresses to be exact" Bianchi said, giving emphasis on the word female.

Hayato had already deduced that this would be something his Father would do. "So i guess he wants me to get married to a rich heiress."

"He wants to talk you into an arranged marriage for his family's sake. You've heard about what happened right?" Bianchi asked him, he nodded in response. His father's mafia family had been attacked by another family recently, their main base almost got completely destroyed. They spent millions repairing the damages they incurred, and their family is almost completely broke. Bianchi continued. "You're not obliged to get married just because you're Father's son. I accepted that arranged marriage because it's my responsibility to help with Father's family because I am officially a part of it. But you're different. I don't want you to go through what i did, I got lucky because it was Dino but..."

Bianchi and Dino's marriage was an arranged one, Dino's family had been egging him to get married for years since he took over as boss, and it was 4 years ago that the Cavallone family became more persistent. At the same time, Bianchi and Hayato's father's mafia family was struggling too back then, and they needed a strong ally to survive. It was Reborn who proposed the idea. Bianchi was opposed to it at first, but as the eldest daughter she had to do it for her father, and she did do it. They got married quickly, and she became pregnant just a month after the wedding. But Hayato knows that her sister has regrets about it. She loves her daughter deeply and Dino is a caring husband and father but before she got married she was in love with someone else he didn't know. He just felt it in the way his sister had been acting during those days.

"You know I wont." he answered firmly. "I plan on taking Tsuna with me to talk Father into an alliance with the Vongola."

Though Dino and Bianchi got married, their father opposed the idea of being allied to the Vongola, his family had minor spats with Vongola before and it was his pride that got in the way of a possible alliance. Their father allied with the Cavallone Famiglia but up to now still refused an alliance with the Vongola.

"Even if you take Tsuna it will still be difficult to convince him, he's left with no other choice but to use you. But no matter what, I don't want you to get married. I'll keep on persuading Father not to involve you but you think of something too. "

"I am. Don't worry about it so much Nee-san, I'll be fine." He assured his sister. He sure as hell didn't want to get married to some stranger.

Sophia quickly grabbed Hayato's arm in concern. "Uncle Hayato, you're getting married?" she asked.

"No Sophie I'm not." he said, patting the young girl's head.

"Good. Because I'm gonna marry you when I grow up!" said Sophia. Bianchi smiled at her daughter affectionately.

"You'll have to talk to Haru about that sweetie." said Bianchi.

"Haru? Is she the one you talk to on the computer Mommy? The one with short hair?" Bianchi nodded. Sophia stood from her seat, and leapt into Hayato's lap. "I'll tell her that Uncle Hayato is mine!" she said. Bianchi laughed lightly, Hayato did the same as he suddenly thought of Haru, and how she'd have said 'Ha-hi!' at Sophia's comment just now and he thought about marriage.

* * *

><p>After lunch, he hurried off to his next meeting, This one more stressful than the one earlier. It took a lot out of him to not punch the boss of another allied family in the face. He had to thank Takeshi for that. The Rain Guardian was present at the meeting as well, and it was he who got the Allied family they were meeting to agree to their terms. It was his good looks and charms that helped them in that meeting, and it also helped that the wife of the man they met with had the hots for the Rain Guardian.<p>

"I should have let you handle that yourself!" said Gokudera as they got back to the mansion right after the meeting. He could have saved himself the stress and the trouble.

Yamamoto smirked. "Hey I didn't say I couldn't handle that by myself, but you insisted yesterday to bring you along with me." said Yamamoto.

"I was worried you'd flirt with his wife, which you did by the way!" He exclaimed.

"That was just harmless flirting. You know I don't go for married women!" Yamamoto defended himself.

"Oh really? What about last year when some guy chased you down for sleeping with his wife?" he said, remembering the amused faces of the other guardians when the man had rushed to the university. Takeshi caused quite the scandal.

"In my defense, she didn't tell me she was married!" he said.

"Yeah, yeah whatever." He stopped arguing with the Rain Guardian as they went separate ways, Hayato to his room on the Fifth Floor, and Takeshi to his office on the opposite side of the same floor.

He makes his way back to his room, throws his coat on the rack and misses it , turns on his laptop and together with it he dives for his bed, exhausted. He lays on his back, pulls out a cigarette from his shirt pocket and then realized he left his lighter on his coat. Cursing, he uses his dying will flames instead to light his cigarette. He smokes again, only his second one of the day, (a personal best again) he feels the familiar relaxing effect that cigarettes usually gave him. He soon finishes his second, and then his third, then his fourth. He could feel himself falling asleep. He suddenly jerked upward, remembering a document he had to review for tomorrow's meeting. Scratching the back of his head, he made his way to his drawer, passing through his piano which he just now noticed was a bit dusty. He brushed the dust off and opened the lid, running his hands through the keys. This piano had been given to him by Bianchi when they first arrived in Italy, this was the old one he used to play when he was a kid... It had been awhile since he had touched the piano. He pressed a few keys and noted that the piano was still in tune.

_"Why don't you play something?" _

Hayato jumped in surprise and looked all over his room for the source of the voice, but he then sighed when he realized where the voice came from. He walked back to his bed, to sit in front of his laptop. A video call had pushed through and was automatically answered. His girlfriend smiled at him from the computer screen.

_"Go on, play something." she said. _

"I don't feel like it." He told her.

_"Come on! Please? I haven't heard you play yet." _

"No!"

_"I'll overlook the fact that you've smoked more than three again._" said Haru pointing to several cigarette butts on the ashtray on his bed. Haru had been nagging him to quit, which of course he couldn't, so she instead proposed a 'three sticks a day rule.' and Hayato was forced to agree.

Hayato glared at Haru through the computer screen and went back to sit at the piano stool to indulge his girlfriend's request. He played Debussy's Claire de Lune, one of the pieces taught to him by his mother. He remembered the notes well and played gracefully, he glanced at Haru from time to time, she was watching him with interest, but her eyes held a hint of sadness in them. He stopped playing halfway and turned to the computer screen.

_"Why'd you stop?" _she asked.

"I forgot the rest." he lied, he couldn't keep playing, he felt so conscious of Haru watching him. He stood up and went back in front of his laptop again.

_"Wish I could hear you and see you play in person_." Haru sighed.

"It's gonna cost you to see me play, woman." He smirked, Haru smiled at him.

_"Oh I'll make you do it."_ she spat.

"I'd like too see you try."

_"It'll be easy! I'll be there in three weeks so you'd better have a song prepared." _she said. Haru's parents gave her a trip to Italy as a graduation gift. It would be her first trip abroad.

"Three weeks, huh?" Three weeks couldn't come fast enough, he thought.

_"Yup! I'm so excited! I bought new clothes the other day with Kyoko-chan and..."_ she trailed off, Hayato didn't pay that much attention to her story and just stared at his girlfriend's face. He missed her badly. They've been dating for almost 3 years, and it was such a surprise that they were still together. Being in a long distance relationship is hard enough as it is, and the fact that he is part of the mafia and takes up most of his time just makes it even harder. He remembers the time they first got together.

_(Flashback)_

_A year after Tsuna and his guardians officially moved to Italy, Hayato goes back to Japan, in Tsuna's place, to oversee the start of the Japanese base's construction. He would have to stay in Japan for a month. He felt conflicted feelings on going back to Japan, primarily because of Haru. He feared seeing her. Namimori was such a small town, he was bound to run into her. He left Japan on bad terms with Haru. Before they left for Italy, Haru had confessed to him. She said sh didn't think it was possible but she fell for him anyway... and Hayato being Hayato, didn't stop and think about it. He made fun of her and told her he would never go out with her, but that was then and he was not sure of his feelings for her yet. When they got to Italy and he talked about it with Tsuna and Takeshi , he realized that he actually returned her feelings and he felt so stupid for hurting her. Tsuna and Takeshi both convinced him to finally tell Haru his feelings once he got back to Japan, he always used to put it off, saying he wasn't ready to tell her. But truth be told he just didn't want to be rejected. So when Tsuna wanted a Guardian to oversee the new base, He volunteered himself right away._

_A week after arriving in Japan, he gathered enough courage to go to her place. He was greeted by her mother, and Haru's mother told him that she didn't stay there anymore, she moved to a small apartment in the next town near her university, where she studied Fashion Design. It was a good thing her mother was cooperative, she gave him her new address and he went there. He waited for at least five hours in the cold, outside her apartment but she didn't show up, he could have called but he wanted to talk to her face to face. He left her apartment defeated, his resolve slightly damaged. He tried again a week after, waiting outside her university this time and he met Kyoko, the latter told him that Haru had a part time job and usually finished late in the night. A week after he went again and managed to finally see her after her part time job. Haru's eyes widened in surprise, and so did his when he saw that she was with someone else, a guy from her University. Haru introduced the guy as her boyfriend and he almost broke the guy's hand as they shook hands, he sheepishly excused himself, feeling silly. It hadn't once occurred to him that Haru would have moved on. Defeated , he spent his last week cooped up in his hotel room working. He decided not to tell her anymore, it wouldn't work anyway, they were too different plus long distance relationships are likely to fail. On the day of his flight back to Italy he was surprised to see Haru at the airport waiting for him._

_"Why are you here?" he asked. She was panting to catch her breath, she had been running._

_"I just found out from Nana-san that you were heading back to Italy, so I rushed here as soon as I heard." she told him as soon as she managed to breath normally again. It had been a year since they have seen each other. Gokudera found himself staring at her flushed face. Reddish brown hair, brown eyes and dimples, Had she always looked this beautiful?_

_"Why?" he managed to ask after he snapped out of his reverie. He looked down this time, avoiding her gaze._

_Haru sighed and walked towards him. "To do this." she said as she raised her hand and slapped him across the face. The force of her slap caused his neck to twist painfully. It happened so fast he didn't have time to react as his hands instinctly covered his aching cheek. He sure deserved that, he thought. Haru raised her hand again, in a move to slap him. Hayato braced himself for the slap that he knew he deserved and closed his eyes, but he quickly opened them when she wrapped her hands around his neck, pulled his face closer to hers and kissed him. He just stood there as she kissed him, eyes wide open in shock. The kiss was short, but definitely sweet. When she pulled away, she laughed and pointed at him._

_"Hahi! You should see the look on your face!" she giggled._

_He turned from surprised to pissed as he faced her. "Damn you woman, why I oughta... wait! Why did you kiss me?" he demanded._

_Haru smiled at him and he could feel his usually cold heart melting. "I know you've been waiting to meet me for a month now. My mom told me you went by our house then I saw you in front of my apartment a week after that but I was still so mad at you so I left, but then my neighbor said you waited for a long time. Then when we met last week, my ex said that you had a very strong grip, you almost crushed his hand. He was a bit scared in the way you looked at him to be honest. So that must mean you like me right?" she grinned. "Or did i read it wrong and you just wanted to apologize for breaking my heart last year?"_

_"You're wrong. I don't like you." He lied, it wouldn't work anyway._

_"Oh. Oh! Then that was awkward, and I even broke up with my boyfriend too..." she said, but she was still smiling._

_He sighed and noted the recognition in her face. "You know I'm lying don't you?" Haru just knew how to read him._

_"Of course, bakadera!" she said, as she wrapped her arms around him. Hayato did the same, hugging her tight to him, wrapping his arms around her waist. She felt warm and soft, it felt good to hold her, she was unlike any other girl he had been with. But he had to be realistic. It wouldn't work._

_"It's not going to work..." he muttered, and although he said that, he held her tighter._

_Haru buried her face in his chest."We'll make it work! It's not gonna be easy but, I'm willing to give it my all if you are!"_

_"I'll be in Italy most of time, I'll only be able to visit probably twice or thrice a year. " The probability of a long distance relationship lasting was low, that much he knew._

_Haru looked up at him. "There's always the internet. And we have cellphones, you'll have to call me though, I'm a little tight on funds." she joked._

_He thought of many other reasons why it wouldn't work. "I'm busy with University and Vongola stuff and..." Haru raised a finger on his lips to shut him up._

_"Bakadera, I love you and I wanna be with you, you feel the same right?"_

_He nodded. "I really do but the more I think about it... "_

_Haru the kissed him again. " Stop whining! If you love me, That's all I need. " she firmly told him. She just wouldn't take no for an answer._

_He felt elated to hear those words from her, but he still had his doubts. "Are you sure about this?"_

_She nodded. "I'm sure. I know its going to be tough but, I like a challenge. Just think of it as a math equation that continuously needs to be solved , you won't get the correct answer if you fail to solve it." She said. Hayato grinned._

_"Using math as an analogy huh? How am I supposed to say no to that?" He smiled at her, pulling her face closer to his for a kiss, this one longer than the first one, any previous doubts he had earlier quickly disappearing._

_(End of Flashback)_

"_So how are Tsuna and the others by the way_?" she asked.

"Fine. "

"_Care to elaborate? You're not busy are you_?"

Truth was he was busy, but work can wait. He shook his head. " They're fine, Tsuna's become a workaholic coffee addict, Takeshi still plays baseball and women, Ryohei is making extreme plans for his wedding, Chrome is busy with Hibari, Hibari is busy with chrome, and Lambo is busy going through puberty." he spoke quickly, Haru noticed this and frowned at him.

_"So you are busy?"_

"I'm not..." he answered.

Haru pouted at him. _"But you're worried about something I can tell._" she said.

There was just no hiding things from her, she could easily see through him. "Its my Father." He said. He then told her of the lunch meeting he had with Bianchi earlier.

"_So you're getting married_?" she asked, an incredulous look on her face.

He shook his head. "No, of course not! Why would I? I don't want to do what Bianchi did just to save him. I'll talk to him myself, once you get here we'll both see him." Hayato said.

_"Why would you bring me?"_

"I'm going to tell my Father that I don't plan on getting married for his family's sake, I'll force him into an alliance with the Vongola instead, and I'll tell him that you're the only woman I want to marry." He told her, not really wanting to say that last part. It just slipped out off his tongue.

Haru's eyes widened. _"Hahi! Was that a proposal?_" she blushed.

Hayato felt himself blush as well. "No! I mean yes... No I..." He struggled to find the right words to say.

"_Hayato... Just tell me what's on your mind._" she said. She spoke in such a soft voice, that it made him miss her more.

"Yes I do want to get married but not to some random rich girl. I want it to be you." he muttered. He thought back on his words, and he felt like an idiot saying them. It sounded so romantic and not like him at all. Haru really had changed him, even more so than smoking did.

_"So that was a proposal?"_

"Kinda. I'm not ready to get married yet, I want to introduce you to my Father first then maybe you could move to Italy earlier than we planned?" He said. They had talked about Haru moving to Italy, but she said she wouldn't do so after graduation, but she would do it once she has established a career in Fashion Design in Japan first.

"_Move to Italy huh? Hmmm..._" She creased her eyebrows in concentration. Hayato gulped. Not sure if she would say yes. _"Well I guess I could intern at an Atelier there first and build a career in Italy instead. Yeah that sounds awesome! And France is like the fashion capital! Its near Italy right? Yeah let's do it!"_ she told him, excited.

"Wait! Don't you have to think it over or something first?" he asked. Her moving to Italy, leaving her family, she should think very hard on it.

_"I've thought it through, Hayato. We talk and chat and all but I miss you more and more each day that I don't see you. When you tell me what you have to go through everyday, It makes me want to jump on a plane and give you a nice tight hug and tell you that everything's going to be fine. I want to be there for you."_ she told him.

"Are you sure? Life here in Italy is different, It'll be more difficult for you..." He said, a bit worried. Haru was a strong woman, that much he knew. But he also knew that she knew how to keep up a facade. She embraces the Vongola Family and its ways, but truthfully, she was, and still is, scared of the Mafia world.

_"Yes. I know. But I've already decided. I was going to tell you when I got there. Oh well..."_ she smiled.

"So you're moving to Italy?" he asked for the last time, though he knew the answer he just wanted to make it final, official.

_"Uh-huh! Oh hey, where's my ring? You proposed right?"_ she said. Wiggling her ring finger on the computer screen.

"I'll buy you one once you move here." He smiled. Suddenly he didn't feel so tired anymore. The day started out so stressful, with problem after problem being thrown at him, but at the end of the day he felt so blissful, like all the stress he endured was worth it.

* * *

><p><strong>an: Thoughts? Musings? Violent reactions? Let me know!**

**Next Chapter: Chrome Dokuro: Loneliness is next to Happiness**


	4. Chapter4:Loneliness is next to Happiness

**Chapter 4: Loneliness is next to Happiness**

Chrome stretched out on her business class seat on a plane headed for Rome. She rubbed her stiff neck and yawned. She drank from her soda, after which she resumed working on her laptop.

"Why don't you take a break?" a long, dark indigo haired man next to her said.

"We're landing soon, I have to get it done before then, Mukuro-san." she told him. Chrome and Mukuro had been sent by Tsuna to France on a mission. They were able to complete it successfully and were now on a plane on a flight back to Italy. Mukuro, who was usually based in France, joined Chrome on her flight since Tsuna wanted to personally talk to him about another mission. Chrome typed away on her laptop, making her report on the mission. Mukuro next to her, well he wasn't really doing anything. The latter had finished his report even before they boarded the plane.

"You look tired my dear Chrome." said Mukuro. Chrome gave his former master/savior/ lover a warm smile in appreciation.

"I'm fine, thanks. I still have classes today so I have to finish this report for bossu. Can you give it to him for me?" she asked. Mukuro would be meeting with Tsuna today, whereas Chrome would go to school this afternoon.

Mukuro smiled back. "Of course. Anything for you my dear." The two mist guardians have been through a lot together. But it was just in a couple of months back that they've grown closer. They have never been this open to each other before, back when Chrome considered him her master, or even when they started dating. It was only after they broke up and became friends, that the wall between them disappeared. Chrome considered Mukuro her bestfriend now, much to the annoyance of her current boyfriend.

Glancing at her watch, Chrome noted that they were almost back in Rome. True enough, an announcement was made on the plane telling the passengers to prepare themselves for arrival. When the plane landed, Chrome gathered her luggage with the help of Mukuro who carried some of it for her. They pass through immigration quickly, and made their way towards the pick up area, where they waited for their car.

"How's school coming along Chrome?" Mukuro asked.

"Okay, I guess." she told him with a sad face.

Mukuro sensed the sadness in her tone and he looked worriedly at her. "Still having trouble at school?" he pressed.

Chrome shook her head. "No. Not really. It's just been lonely lately." she sighed.

"Why? Are your classmates still giving you a hard time? I can deal with them, with your consent of course."

"No. I can deal with my classmates. Its just that, Bossu and the others have already graduated and its not the same without them." she told him with a deep sigh.

A black luxurious sedan stopped in front of them, a Vongola bodyguard came out and grabbed Mukuro's luggage.

"I'm here to pick up Mr. Rokudo. Your car Lady Chrome will pick you up shortly." he said. Chrome nodded at him as the bodyguard put Mukuro's bag in the trunk., and opened the passenger door for him.

"I'll be in Rome for awhile. Let me know if you feel lonely Chrome, I'll come running." he said.

"Thanks Mukuro-san." she smiled at him. Mukuro kissed her on the cheek goodbye, as he got into his car. Another Vongola car arrived soon after and stopped in front of Chrome, as she stepped into the car, the bodyguard taking care of her things. Once the bodyguard got into the car, he turned to her.

"Where to, Lady Chrome?"

"To the base please." she answered. The driver sped off into Rome's streets, towards the Vongola's main base. They arrived just before lunch time. Chrome quite enjoyed looking at the streets from the car. She had been away from Rome for almost three weeks and she missed the city, but what she missed most was the company of her friends, the other guardians. They have all been busy lately and haven't had any time to hang out. Tsuna, even after graduation, was as busy as always. Hayato was busy too, and last she heard, he was staying at his fathers house, together with Haru. Ryohei too was busy, planning for his wedding, Varia training and boxing matches kept him busier than ever... Lambo was, well not that busy, aside from school he didn't have anything else. Tsuna made it clear that Lambo would not be allowed to participate in official Vongola affairs until after he graduates from high school. Takeshi on the other hand, was busy preparing for minor league tryouts, and he was also assigned temporarily to lead the Vongola's new U.S branch, and Hibari, well, he was busy in his own right. The foundation took up most of his time, plus Tsuna would sometimes bring him on meetings with other mafia members to intimidate them further. Hibari, Chrome sighed. They have not been talking for weeks since she left for this mission. He was completely against the mission in the first place, specially when he heard that Mukuro would be there with her. Chrome insisted on going anyway despite Hibari's protests, and it became a full blown fight between them. They have had fights before, but so far in their year long relationship, this was the first time that their fight lasted for three weeks.

(Flashback)

"_I'm going to France on a mission for Bossu." Chrome told him. Hibari turned away from the papers on his desk to look at the woman in front of him._

"_So I heard. I already talked to Sawada. You're not going." He said. He resumed working once more. _

"_What? Why did you do that?" she asked him. Although she already knew what his answer would be. Hibari always got in the way when a mission for her would come. He was too damn protective. _

"_You think I'd let you go on a mission with Rokudo of all people? You're staying here." Hibari said, not bothering to look up from the papers he was working on. _

"_How many times do I have to tell you? Mukuro-san and I are just friends! Don't you have faith in me?" Chrome pleaded._

_Hibari shrugged. "It's him I don't trust." _

"_When will we ever get past this Kyoya? When it comes to Mukuro-san you're always like this!" Chrome could feel herself getting pissed. _

"_You're not going. It's too dangerous." He said. He stopped working now, he stared intently at Chrome, his face expressionless as usual, but Chrome knew he was starting to get pissed too. _

_It was then that Chrome finally got angry. She slammed her fists on his desk. "I'm a Vongola Guardian, and this is my duty as a Guardian. Bossu needs Mist users for this mission and I volunteered myself. I may not be as strong or as accomplished as you, but I want to be useful to the family too!" she practically shouted at him. She was becoming frustrated. She rarely got to go on missions, all thanks to Hibari. And because of that she felt useless, she felt like a damsel that needed to be protected. But she was no damsel, she didn't want to be. She's a warrior, just like them. She wanted Hibari to treat her like an equal, to acknowledge her strength as a guardian. But the Cloud Guardian never gave him that chance to prove herself. It felt like he was locking him up in a cage. She felt lonely and isolated whenever he did that. _

_Hibari stood from his seat. "You will stay here!" He raised his voice too, Chrome flinched a little. It was the first time she heard him like that._

_But Chrome wanted to go on this mission, so she could feel useful again. "You may be my boyfriend, but that doesn't give you the right to tell me what to do! I'm going on this mission,whether you like it or not!" she screamed at him. Words that she wanted to say to him for some time now finally came out of her. Hibari stared at her, dumbfounded. This was the first time he saw Chrome this mad and so vocal about her feelings. _

"_You're not going and that's final." He told her. His voice firm and his expression cold._

_Chrome became even more frustrated. "Well that's not really up to you to decide. I get to make my own decisions. I'm sick and tired of you always being like this."she said. She could feel her tears welling up in her eyes, but she held them back. If she was going to defy him, she'd have to be strong. _

"_Do what you want." He said, walking past her towards the door and slammed the door shut as he left his own office. _

_(End of Flashback)_

She was still mad at him, but not being able to see him for weeks was a different thing. She missed him terribly, but at the same time she was still pissed at him. Not once did he even bother calling her while she was gone, she didn't call him either but still, would it kill him to call and check up on her? Or did he think they were breaking up? She sure hoped not. She loves him but sometimes she just cant handle his personality. He was too protective and controlling and not to mention overly jealous and possessive. But it's not really his fault that he acted that way, he had a terrible childhood. She did too, but she struggled to change herself for the better every single day. He should do the same too.

When the car stopped in front of the base's main entrance, she got off the car and was greeted by the lower ranked members, she shyly greeted them back with a nod, opting not to say a word, as she made her way to her room. Her driver carried her stuff to her room and excused himself, leaving her in her own room.

Her room looked the same as she had left it. She sank on her bed, nuzzling her face on her pillow. Her pillows were cold, her room felt cold too, it felt empty. She thinks about the time when she didn't mind being alone. She's changed a lot since then, and she's learned how to open herself to others but there are just times when she found herself feeling lonely. She felt her eyelids getting heavy, thoughts of a certain cloud guardian passed through her mind as she succumbed to sleep.

After her nap, she readied herself for university. She opted to take the train instead of bringing her car, she was running a bit late and with the limited parking space at the university, she might not make it in time for her classes. When she got off the train, a hand grabbed her arm, and she readied her mist flames in alarm, but relaxed when she saw who had grabbed her.

"Chrome? I thought you were still in France?" asked Maria. She was a classmate's of Tsuna, she was supposed to graduate along with them, but failed some of her subjects and was now in the same class as chrome.

"I just got back this morning." she told her.

"Oh. How are your parents? "maria asked her. When chrome would go on missions, her usual alibi was to visit her family in France.

"They're fine, thank you." she lied.

They walked together out the station, into the streets towards their University. They talked about Chrome's visit to France, which she had to lie about. They both made their way to class and took their seats, Chrome earning glares from some of her female classmates. She took it well, it was a daily thing for her anyway.

"Don't mind them, Chrome." said Maria. "They're just jealous of you."

"I still don't get why though. My life's not something to be jealous about." Chrome sighed.

"Well let's see. You're very good friends with the three most popular guys in school, you have a pretty neat car, you do well in your studies, and you're beautiful!"

"I'm not all that." she said, slightly embarrassed with what Maria said.

"Sure you are! You're just not that confident about yourself. They're worried about you, you know?"

"They are?"

Maria nodded. "Yeah, Just after graduation they talked to me, Tsuna, Hayato and Takeshi, and even that loud friend of yours, forgot his name!"

"Ryohei?"

"Yeah him! They're all worried about you Chrome. They asked me to keep an eye on you and said that you tend to shy away from other people, and that you've only had them as friends. They said that you tend to endure things alone, but that's why I'm here. If you need someone to talk to, I'm willing to lend an ear. " she smiled at her.

Chrome felt elated at her words. Even if they had already graduated, they still thought of her. She felt glad at having friends like them. And she was glad she had someone like Maria as a friend too. If only a certain someone cared for her more like her friends do.

"I'll tell you later." she smiled at Maria. The latter smiled back, as they both faced the front, the professor entered the classroom and their class started.

After class, Chrome and Maria walked through the Gardens, on their way out of the University. The Garden was a famous hangout for students after class. It was a place where most of the students lazed around in the grassy fields, some even studied and sat on wooden benches. It was a relaxing place. As they passed through the Garden, Chrome sighed. She suddenly missed Bossu and the others. They all used to hang out in this place, just chatting and sometimes comparing notes and gossiping and whatnot.

Maria noticed Chrome sigh. "You miss them, Chrome?" Maria asked. Chrome nodded. "Me too. They're fun to be with, those guys." said Maria.

"Have you... errr..." Chrome wanted to ask her about Tsuna but hesitated. She figured if it was the right time to talk to her about him. Or if she was prepared to talk about it.

"Go on, Chrome." she urged.

"Uhmm... Have you talked to Bos- Tsuna lately?"

"No. Not since he rejected me." she said as she forced a smile. "But its okay. Should've seen it coming."

"Tsuna really likes you, you know? But not just in the way you want him to. He's pretty happy with Mika-san." said Chrome.

"Mika? Was that the same Mika you introduced me to when I ran into you last month at the mall?" asked Maria. Chrome nodded. "Wow, so that's his girlfriend? No wonder he wasn't interested in me! She looks like a model!"

"Yeah, she's very pretty. She's fun to be with too, you never get bored with her around."

"Oh? But... Is she a good girlfriend to him?" she asked.

"Yes, very. Mika-san is very honest with him. She tells him if she likes something or not. Tsuna's like that too. They're both open to each other and they make their relationship work even if they're both different people. I envy them sometimes..." she meant to say that last sentence to herself, but ended up saying it out loud. Maria didn't fail to catch what she said as she smirked at her.

"Having relationship problems, Chrome?" she asked. Chrome was hesitant to answer at first, but then remembered that Maria was a good friend, and she had offered to lend an ear if she ever needed it.

"Yes." she answered. Maria giggled.

"Oh! I finally get to hear about your oh-so-secret lovelife!" Maria knew that she had a boyfriend, but it was something she heard from Tsuna, not from Chrome herself. The indigo haired girl rarely shared anything about her life. "What's he like?"

"Mean, overprotective, possessive, cold, rude, stubborn and violent." Chrome said. And based on her description, Maria formed an image inside her head. She imagined a bald, muscled man with tattoos and piercings all over his body. Maria shuddered at the thought of Chrome dating such a guy.

"Why are you still with him?"

Really why was she still with him? Mukuro treated her better anyway, and yet she broke up with Mukuro to be with Kyoya. "I'm not sure." she answered truthfully. "I just... love him..."

"Chrome, sometimes love is not enough. Being in a relationship means that you both have to compromise, you both have to change. But if the other party is not compromising, then there's no point in continuing that relationship."

It made sense, what Maria said. She always did what he wanted, but when it came to what she wanted, he wouldn't cave in. So really, why was she still with him?

They ended up near the main gate, in the waiting area. Maria, being a rich kid, was usually picked up by a car. They both sat at the waiting area, Chrome waiting on Maria to be picked up as cars pass by them.

"Chrome, you're a really nice girl. You deserve someone who treats you better. You should get out of this relationship before he ends up hurting you more." said Maria.

Maria was right. She did deserve better. It wouldn't last long anyway, they were too different. She couldn't even answer why she was still with him.

"I'll talk to him again... and if he still doesn't cave in, I-i'll... break up with him." she managed to say. It hurt to think about breaking up with him, she didn't know how she would go about, she didn't think she could do it. But she knew it had to be done, sooner or later. If Kyoya wouldn't change for her like she did for him, then what was the point of staying together?

Chrome started to cry. Tears that she's been holding inside of her now flowed freely from her eyes. Maria wrapped an arm around her in comfort.

"It'll be fine Chrome, It's going to hurt but you'll make it through, trust me." said Maria. Chrome nodded, more tears fell from her eyes. She cried on Maria, letting out all of her frustration. The loneliness she felt, the disappointment, and the frustration she felt, she cried it all out. She didn't care that people passing by could see her like this. It felt good to finally let it out. Maria stroked her hair and hugged her until she calmed down. Sniffing, she turned to her friend and managed a small smile.

"Thanks, Maria."

"No problem! What're friends for right? We'll look for someone else for you!" Maria said. Chrome laughed, as she wiped away the rest of her tears with the back of her hand.

"I don't think I'm ready for that just yet." she said.

"Why not! There are a lots of good looking guys in this place! Seriously! Like that guy over there!" She pointed in front of them, a couple of meters away from where they sat. A suit-clad man stepped out of his black sedan. He had short black hair, gray eyes, a handsome face and pale skin. He noticed Chrome, and strode over to them, ignoring the longing glances from the female students he passed by.

"K-kyoya?" Chrome muttered as she broke away from Maria's hug and stood up. She blinked her eyes in disbelief. Was this an illusion she was having perhaps? But then that was impossible. She was a Mist user, for crying out loud. The Kyoya in front of her looked very real.

"What are you doing here?" Chrome asked.

"To pick you up." He said. Chrome stared at him, mouth gaping in shock. "Your driver said you didn't bring your car today." Hibari said.

"Uh...errr... yeah." she mumbled. Maria stood up to stand next to Chrome.

"You know this guy, Chrome?" she asked. The other students watching the scene, (mostly girls) lingered around to stare at the man in a suit.

"Kyoya this is Maria, my classmate. Maria this is Kyoya, my boyfriend." said Chrome. Hibari, nodded his head in acknowledgment.

Maria's previous imagination of what Chrome's boyfriend would look like shattered to pieces. "Nice to meet you." said Maria, she then turned to Chrome to whisper in her ear. _"He's hot!". _Chrome blushed at her words. "Umm...Looks like my car is here!" she said, pointing to a car making to stop in front of them. "I'll see you around, Chrome!" when her car stopped in front of her she waved goodbye to Chrome and entered the backseat. Chrome turned to look up at Hibari. She felt her heart clench at the sight of him. She studied his face, ingraining it into her mind. She sure missed him. She wanted to jump into his arms, hug him, kiss him but she stopped herself, she was supposed to be mad at him. She noted he looked tired, his hair was slightly disheveled, and he had deep bags under his eyes. She stared at him worryingly.

"Are you...hurt?" she asked. She studied his body next, his left hand was bandaged and he had a small bandage on his neck, the blood on the bandage noticeable. It looked quite deep.

"I'm fine." He said. His voice was hoarse too, Chrome noted. Chrome could no longer control herself, as she moved closer to him, gently holding on to his arm.

"You look tired. Did you just come from a mission?" she asked. Hibari nodded. "You should go back and rest." she told him.

"I'm here to pick you up." He said.

"Thank you." she said. Hibari reached out to brush a tear from her cheek.

Hibari looked straight into her eyes, he seemed to want to say something, but couldn't quite put it into words. But Chrome knew what he wanted to say. She could read him so easily. Just the look he gave her now, she knew how he felt. Chrome smiled at this, all previous doubts in her mind completely disappearing. He obviously made the effort to drive all the way to her University, just after finishing a mission, and that makes Chrome happy, super happy. Just the simple gesture was enough for her to forget that she was mad at him.

"You want to get something to eat?" said Hibari as he let his hand drop from her cheek, and down her hand. He laced his fingers around hers. Chrome grinned at him.

"Yeah. I'm hungry." said Chrome gripping his hand tighter. They walked together, side by side. The loneliness she felt, was now at the far back of her feelings. Why would she feel lonely anyway? Kyoya was an ass most of the time but she knew he'd always be there for her.

The conversation with Maria earlier finally coming to light. _"Why are you still with him?". _She finally knows the answer to that. Even if he's mean, overprotective, possessive, cold, rude, stubborn and violent most of the time, she knows a side to him that he doesn't show others. No words needed to be said. She knows that he feels sorry for what he did, just as much as she was sorry for being mad at him. She knows he worries about her endlessly, just as much as she worries about him. She knows that despite his cold exterior, he loves her deeply, just as much as she loves him. Their relationship may not be as perfect, or it may be difficult at times, but then seeing as their relationship consisted of a Kyoya Hibari and a Chrome Dokuro, this is as perfect as it gets.

* * *

><p>an: It's tough to write about Kyoya and Chrome, whew! I just love them together.

Next Chapter: Ryohei Sasagawa


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